Rest In Power Cde "Bra" Charles Setsubi, South African Communist Party (SACP) Central Committee Member

Today in the early hours of the morning the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) learnt of the sad news of the passing away of our political father Cde Charles whom we referred to as "Bra Charles"as the Young Reds.

On behalf of the rank and file members of the YCLSA we would like to express our sincere condolences to the entire family, relatives, friends and the South African Communist Party which Bra Charles served with diligence throughout his life.

He was a pillar of our political grasp of Marxism - Leninism as fundamental basis of our political being. He was our walking library which we can always interact with whenever we face political difficulties. He was also our permanent political educator.

Comprehending and coming into terms with such a departure of a trained MK combatant has been and is still difficult to accept and live with. Rest in eternal power Bra Charles.

As Bra Charles penned down his experience of his interaction with the late General Secretary of the SACP Cde Chris Hani he said, "Hani had true revolutionary charisma and he was stoical at the same time. He had great self-control and clarity of mind in adversity. He had iron nerves, resilience and revolutionary stamina. He had an excellent memory and remembered the names of most MK combatants". This is exactly what we have also learnt of Bra Charles throughout our interaction with him. He emulated the exact trait of Cde Chris and as such the SACP always found guidance in Bra Charls's stature.

We have lost great pillar of the South African working class struggles. We never thought that at some point we will have to come to terms with such a loss because we have always cherished Bra Charles and despite his age he was always young in spirit and fond of the Young Reds.

He was going to be one of the speakers to our incoming National Legkotla to do what he always does to the Young Reds, making us to "Learn, learn and learn as Lenin instructed.

As young people are at the receiving end of unemployment, poverty and inequality we were still holding our hopes high as the Young Reds to continue developing strategies in addressing such challenges through political education guided by him. These challenges need political maturity and resilience and such could only be found in traits such as that of Bra Charles. It is a great loss to the nation partly young people of this country. At the current epoch where politics of gossips and character assassination are rife Bra Charles would have prevailed in holding everyone at abeyance. Some of the characters who claim historical ties with the Movement have opted to unleash their credentials in exchange for tenders. Hence, stomach politics have taken a centre stage at the expense of revolutionary descipline which we learnt through Bra Charles.

We hope to emulate this strong political character and use every necessary political equipment we acquired through him to fight all injustices facing the Movement and the nation, in particular youth unemployment and drugs abuse - the ills that he often implored us to tackle head on.